joy ⋆｡°✩ @joyracha - Tumblr Blog

EXchange

pairing: skz!member x reader

genre: reality show au

wc: 7.5k

warnings: none

summary: four ex-couples are brought together to test whether love can end, restart or transform. you’re not sure which path is yours yet - closure, a new beginning or the courage to try again

< part 13 | alternative ending >

“five more minutes”, you mumble against his chest, your voice still heavy with sleep.

seungmin laughs softly under you, one of his hands moving through your hair while the other stays wrapped around your waist beneath the sheets.

“mmhm, you said that ten minutes ago”, he says and you can tell he’s smiling.

“i know, but i mean it this time”, you say, getting even closer to him, and he knows you don’t mean it this time either.

“y/n, you have an interview in two hours”

you groan and bury your face deeper into him immediately, your arms tightening around his body.

“please, don’t remind me”

his chest shakes under you as he laughs again and then you feel him tilting his head to look down at you.

“you’re nervous”, he says, matter of fact.

“no, i’m not”

“yes, you are”

you sigh and snuggle closer to him, “okay… maybe a little”

“a little?”, he laughs, amused.

you lift your head just enough to glare at him weakly, “this is my future we’re talking about, kim seungmin”

his expression softens at that, like it always does with you now. one year later and he still looks at you like your feelings are the most important thing in the world.

“you’re gonna do amazing”, he says quietly.

you shake your head, “you don’t know that”

“but i know you and you’re amazing”

your chest warms at his words and you have to look away for a second because somehow he still affects you too much, especially now, after everything.

“i’m serious”, he says, “i’m sure they already love your book and they will want to publish it”

you sigh again, your fingers absentmindedly playing with his t-shirt, “but what if they don’t?”

“then they’re stupid”

you laugh at that, “seungmin!”

“i’m serious”, he says again, pulling you closer against him, “you’ve worked on this book for almost a year. you’ve stayed up all night countless times, just writing and then writing again when you didn’t like something. you’ve put your whole heart into this”, he says as his fingers brush gently against your cheek, “and i know you, and you don’t do things halfway”

you stare at him and god, you love him so much. and maybe the most beautiful part is that now you can finally love him without fear attached to it, without confusion or constantly feeling like he might disappear again.

everything that once hurt between you had healed slowly after the show ended. it wasn’t magically or overnight, no, but patiently, carefully, you two kept choosing each other again and again until it became easy, until loving each other stopped feeling terrifying or something that could shatter and just started feeling safe.

the show ended exactly a year ago, a whole year since seungmin walked through that white door and looked at you like you still were his whole world. you both left together that night, no hesitation or doubts anymore, you just left together, your hands intertwined while the cameras followed you outside for the last time.

two months after that, you moved back in together, back into this apartment that was your home together, then became your constant reminder of him when he wasn’t there, and now it’s your home again. but now you know what it feels like to lose each other and neither of you wants to go through that again.

your life together after the show has been beautiful - quiet mornings, late night convenience store runs, falling asleep tangled together on the sofa, cooking dinner together while played in the background, seungmin editing photos at his desk while you wrote beside him for hours in silence.

home, that’s what it became again, your home.

and now here he is beside you in bed, his hair messy from sleep and his eyes still warm and soft while he looks at you like you the most precious thing he’s ever had.

you groan and hide your face in his neck, “what if i embarrass myself?”

“you won’t”

“what if they hate me?”

“they won’t”, he says, quicker this time, no room for hesitation.

“what if i faint?”

at that he laughs again, much harder than before, a full laugh, bright and beautiful.

“baby, you’re being dramatic”

you gasp against his neck, “i’m not”

“you absolutely are”

you lift your head and narrow your eyes at him before you try to pull away from his arms.

“okay then, since you’ve decided to bully me this early in the morning-”

but before you can finish speaking, seungmin suddenly grabs your waist tighter and then, attacks his fingers dig into your sides mercilessly and you immediately shriek.

“seungmin-”

“what?”

“s-stop- n-no, please”

you break into uncontrollable laughter as you try to escape him while he just keeps tickling you under the sheets.

“minnie, p-please”

“no”, he says, laughing as much as you.

“y-you’re impossible”

“and you’re dramatic”

“b-but you l-love me!”

“i do”, he says immediately.

the words come so naturally now, so easy that it seems like they’re engraved in his lips. and it doesn’t matter that you’ve heard them a thousand times before, they still make your heart stumble every single time.

you stop laughing and look at him, seungmin looking at you the moment he sees you watching him. his hands slow against your waist as you try to catch your breath while he looks at you with those eyes that always undo you completely.

his fingers brush gently against your cheek and then he lends down and kisses you, making you melt against his lips. one of your hands slides into his hair while his arm wraps tighter around your waist beneath the sheets, pulling you fully against him. you kiss him again and again, your kisses mixed with your laughter every time one of you smiles too much against the other’s lips to keep kissing properly.

“i’m so in love with you”, you whisper against his lips.

he smiles, “good”

you laugh and pull away, “good?”

“yeah”, he says, kissing you once more, “good”

“that’s it? that’s all you have to say?”

“what else do you want me to say, huh?”, he says, leaning in trying to kiss you again but you just push his chest while you shake your head.

“i don’t know, something like you love me too or that you love me even more or something like-”

he doesn’t let you finish, because he leans in again and succeeds this time when he presses your lips together this time, making you smile against them.

“i’m so in love with you, y/n, you have no idea”

your heart feels so full it almost hurts so you do the only thing you can think of, you kiss him again and again until he groans against your lips and then collapses fully on top of you now, this time it’s his turn to cling.

“you know what?”, he mumbles, “actually forget the interview. stay here with me”

you burst out laughing, “oh my god, minnie”

“just five more minutes”

“you… hypocrite”

“please”, he whines, tightening his arms around you, “i’m just a man in love”

you laugh harder, your fingers sliding through his messy hair while he buries his face against your chest.

“you’re unbelievable”

“mmhm”, he mumbles against you, “but i’m still not letting you leave”

you smile so hard your cheeks hurt as your fingers continue brushing through his hair gently while the sunlight keeps filling the room around you. seungmin closes his eyes beneath your touch like he never wants to move again, like this is all he ever needed - you, your home together, in peace, finally.

the editor smiles at you from across the table and closes the printed manuscript carefully before placing both of her hands over it.

“i loved it”, she says smiling at you.

you blink at her, almost like you didn’t hear her properly.

“what?”

she laughs softly at your expression, “your book”, she says again, “i loved it”

you feel your entire body go warm and she takes the opportunity to continue speaking.

“you write emotions beautifully”, she says, flipping one of the pages open again briefly, “and the relationship of the main characters feels very real. painfully real at times i would say”

you let out a nervous laugh because if she only knew.

“there’s something very honest about it, especially the way you write about love after loss. most people usually write second chance romances like fantasy, but yours feels…”, she pauses for a moment, searching for the right word, “lived… real”

your throat tightens immediately because it was lived, every page and chapter of your book, every heartbreak was definitely lived. you poured yourself into this book when you didn't know what else to do with your feelings. when loving seungmin felt impossible when he left, when your heart had nowhere to go except onto paper, when the show felt too complicated to even exist there, when seungmin came back and loving him felt like something you could never escape from.

the editor smiles softly again, “we still need to have a final meeting with the rest of the team but personally? i think this has a lot of potential”, she says as you stare at her, still trying to understand that this is finally happening, “we’d really like to publish it, y/n”

and suddenly your eyes burn. you bow quickly in your seat, completely overwhelmed and not sure of what to do.

“thank you”, you say breathlessly, “really, thank you so much”

she smiles again, “we’ll contact you soon after the meeting, but you should be really proud of yourself”

proud.

you feel like you could cry there and then, so you just shake hands politely, bow once more and then manage to leave her office without completely bursting into tears - you don’t really know how you pull that off to be honest.

the second the door closes behind you, you grab your phone and immediately call seungmin, your fingers shaking as you do it, and he answers instantly, like he was already waiting for your call.

“well?”

you laugh breathlessly, “she loved it”

“what?”

“seungmin, she loved it!”, you repeat louder now, unable to stop smiling, “and she said they want to publish it”

there’s a second of silence and then-

“i knew it!

you burst out laughing in the middle of the hallway, hearing seungmin screaming and cheering for you on the other end of the line.

“i knew it, i knew it!”, seungmin continues loudly, “i told you, baby, i told you they’d love it”

your smile hurts now but you’re so happy, so fucking happy.

“she said they still need to have another meeting”, you explain quickly while walking towards the lifts, “but she said it has potential and that she wants to publish it and-”

“i’m proud of you”

his words make you stop completely and you stand there in the middle of the hallway, your smile impossibly bigger and your eyes finally letting some tears fall down your face. seungmin’s voice grows quieter after that.

“i’m really proud of you baby”

you close your eyes while your tears still fall, “i love you, minnie”, you whisper and he can hear the smile on your voice.

he laughs softly through the phone, “i love you too, baby”

you hear movement on his side of the call, the keys jingling you think.

“where are you?”, you ask him as you start walking again.

“i’m coming to pick you up”, he says and you hear the door closing.

“what?”

“i already spoke to minho”, he says, “we’re meeting all of them in like an hour anyway, so we have some time”

you smile instantly, “minnie”

“what?”

“you don’t need to come get me, i can go home and then we can leave together”

“i know i don’t have to, but i want to”

your heart melts completely and you can hear his smile through the phone.

“i’ll meet you downstairs in fifteen minutes”

you laugh softly, “okay, i’ll wait for you in the cafeteria”

“okay… and baby?”

“yes?”

“you did it”

the words hit you harder than anything else today, because it’s true - you did it. you swallow quickly, then smile to yourself again.

“yeah”, you whisper softly while stepping inside the lift, “i did it”

you end the call and then the lift begins descending. you lean back against the mirrored wall, staring at your reflection while your heartbeat slowly calms. it’s crazy to think that it’s been one year since everything fell apart and somehow led you exactly where you were always meant to be.

you think about that version of yourself sometimes - the girl crying against windows while storms raged outside who was terrified of hurting everyone, the girl who thought love had become something painful and impossible for her.

you barely recognise her now, not because she disappeared, no. but because she survived and she finally found peace afterwards. the show changed everything for you.

it forced you and seungmin to finally face everything you had been too afraid to admit before - the hurt, the love, the fear, the longing, all of it. and somehow after all that chaos, after all the tears and the heartbreak, what remained was simple, you loved him and he loved you and your love survived anyway.

the show also gave you a new found family - lily, minho and han. they were the people you met in the middle of heartbreak and became your family afterwards. and lily and minho could both say the same thing, because no longer after the show ended, they started dating and now they’re looking for places to move in together.

you still see yuna and changbin sometimes too, but their lives are a bit more hectic than yours. you’ve seen them in occasional dinners and your birthday parties, and you text a lot, but still, they are some of the people you really want to keep in your life.

you saw yeong a bit more right after the show ended, but you’re not really in contact with her now. you think it might be because of minho and lily dating, so you don’t really blame her for becoming more distant now. feelings are feelings after all.

you obviously don’t see hae or haven’t heard from her, like… none, zero, nada. not that you’re interested in seeing her to be honest.

and chan…

your chest softens slightly at the thought. things ended peacefully between you in the end, painfully but peacefully. the last time you saw him was the day before the show ended, when you went to their lodge looking for seungmin and you found him there instead. he had told changbin he needed distance to move on properly and you understood.

you’ll probably always care about him in some way, but you know some people aren’t meant to stay forever in your life. some people arrive in your life to help you understand something before letting you go. and maybe that was what chan had been for you - a lesson, a comfort during a moment where you felt completely lost.

but seungmin… seungmin was your home, and he always had been.

the show gave you love again, your home, it gave you people who stayed and also, in the middle of all that chaos, your heartbreak became a book. a book that someone now wanted to publish - your dream, your love story, your second chance, your opportunity to love again, all of it became real.

who knows if someone could read your book and hope that it would be the same for them too.

the doors finally open downstairs and you start walking towards the cafeteria, which is much quieter than usual when you walk in. there’s soft music playing somewhere in the background and when you look to the counter, you see felix and jeongin working there, both of them workers there who you have met during the last months, whenever you came to the meetings and such.

the moment they see you, both of them straighten immediately behind the counter.

“and?”, felix asks you, his eyes wide and hopeful, “how did it go?”

you can’t even stop your smile before it spreads across your face again and apparently that’s enough answer for them because both of them react immediately.

“no way!”, jeongin says loudly, smiling big and bright at you.

felix gasps and then points at you, “they liked it!?”

you laugh again, still feeling like none of this is actually real and you’re gonna wake up any moment now.

“she said they want to publish it”, you tell them.

felix lets out the loudest scream and jeongin walks towards you, grabbing your shoulders the moment he gets close enough.

“congratulation, y/n!”, jeongin says.

“i knew it!”, felix says, walking towards you too, “i told you the last time you came here”

you laugh harder as both of them start talking over each other excitedly.

“this is so cool, y/n!”, felix says.

“you’re gonna be a published author”, jeongin says.

“a real author now!”

your cheeks hurt from smiling so much. the three of you end up laughing together in the cafeteria, while both of them just keep congratulating you and celebrating.

“you will have to sign my copy when it’s out”, felix says.

“no, you have to sign mine first”, jeongin argues.

“no, mine! i met her first, you weren’t here the first day she came!”, felix says.

“well, i met seungmin first so that’s 1-1”, jeongin says.

you laugh softly and shake your head. god, everything feels so good today, almost perfect, there’s no way this day could get any better.

felix leans back against the counter and smiles at you more softly after a moment.

“seriously though”, he says, “i’m sure you must have worked really hard for this, y/n, you should be proud of yourself”

you look down shyly for a second, “thank you, felix”

“i can’t wait to read it”, jeongin adds, “no, seriously, the way you talked about it every time you came here me want to read it and i’m not really a book guy to be honest”

you laugh, “that’s bad, you know?”

“yeah, really bad”, felix says, teasing him too, “we work in the cafeteria of a publishing house, you should be ashamed of yourself”

jeongin flips felix off and you start laughing again, shaking your head looking at the scene.

“okay, so before you two continue judging me”, jeongin says, gesturing towards the menu behind felix, “miss author, coffee? cake? tea? ice cream?”

you smile and shake your head again, “no, thank you. seungmin’s picking me up in a bit”

both of them look at each other and smirk knowingly.

“oooh”, felix says, smirking at you now.

“date night”, jeongin says.

“jeongin, it’s midday”, you tell him.

“and? love doesn’t know time”, you burst out laughing again, and he continues, “you’re disgusting actually, both of you”

“you’re just jealous of them”, felix says, hitting his shoulder softly.

“that would be correct but let’s pretend it’s not”, jeongin answers, making you all laugh again.

felix suddenly looks over you shoulder then and smiles brightly, “oh, hi”

you turn and there he is, seungmin, walking towards you with that soft smile already on his face. your heart reacts to it instantly, it always will. he’s wearing simple black jeans and one of his shirts you keep stealing from him in the mornings when it’s the first thing your hands can reach to cover your naked body after you made love until late hours in the night.

he reaches you and immediately leans down to kiss your cheek softly.

“hi, baby”

“hi”, you say, smiling up at him.

he greets felix and jeongin warmly, bowing politely while they start teasing him.

“seungmin, you’re gonna have a famous girlfriend now”, felix says, grinning at both of you.

seungmin looks at you proudly, “i know”

your chest melts but you don’t get to say anything before jeongin speaks this time.

“you better spoil her tonight, okay?”, he tells seungmin.

seungmin nods his head, “already planning to”

you laugh while jeongin groans again, “i hate couples”

“you’ll survive, don’t worry”, you tell him, all of you laughing.

after another few minutes of talking and teasing, seungmin reaches for your hand, naturally and effortlessly, like it belongs there, which it does.

“come on”, he says softly, “we should go”

you say goodbye to felix and jeongin while they keep yelling congratulations after you and then leave the building together. the second you walk outside, you turn to seungmin but you barely even get a chance to speak because he pulls you gently towards him and kisses you, properly this time, so slow and soft that it steals your breath completely.

you move your fingers to his shirt, curling there instinctively while he kisses you like he’s waiting to do that since the moment he arrived, even since the moment you left your apartment that morning. you melt into his lips, feeling like you could fly away at any moment, but his lips against yours are the only thing keeping you there. when he pulls away, you’re breathless, blinking up at him while he smiles softly against your lips.

“what was that for?”, you whisper, so out of it that you’re not even sure if you said those words out loud or only in your head.

“that”, he says, brushing his nose against yours, “was to tell you how proud i am of you”

“seungmin…”

“i mean it”, he says, “you did it, my love”

you look at him and then smile again, so hard it hurts your face, but you don’t care. he smiles too, that soft and beautiful smile that once destroyed you and now only makes you feel safe. then he intertwines your fingers together and starts walking slowly beside you.

“the restaurant’s close”, he says, “and we have time, so i thought we could walk there”

you squeeze his hand gently, “i’d like that”

he lifts your joined hands and kisses your knuckles softly before continuing down the street with you beside him, like he plans to do for the rest of his life. you honestly don’t think he’ll ever stop touching you whenever he can and you don’t think you’ll ever get tired of it.

“you know”, he says beside you, “i think i need to start preparing mentally”

you look at him, confused, “for what?”

he sighs dramatically, and you know then he’s joking.

“for what felix said”, he says, “my girlfriend becoming famous”

you burst out laughing, “seungmin-”

“no, seriously”, he continues with complete seriousness now, or at least as much as he can pretend, “soon people are gonna stop us on the street”

“oh my god”

“you’ll become this huge author”, he continues, “and then i’ll have to protect you”

you laugh harder, “protect me from what exactly?”

“the paparazzi obviously”

“there are no paparazzi, seungmin”

“not right now, but there will be”, he says and nods to himself confidently, “i’ll become your bodyguard”

you snort, “you?”

“yes”, he says and squeezes your hand, “i’ll wear sunglasses indoors and stand behind you like this”

he suddenly straightens his posture dramatically and places his free hand on his ears like he’s listening to someone saying something and then scans the river like he's a security personnel.

you laugh so hard your stomach hurts, “you’re ridiculous”

“some would say i’m the perfect boyfriend but whatever”

“debatable”

he gasps softly beside you, “you wound me”

you shake your head while smiling helplessly and seungmin looks at you with that fond expression he always gets now whenever you laugh too hard, like your happiness is the most beautiful thing he’ll ever see. then his fingers brush softly against yours again.

“so”, he says more quietly after a moment, “what now?”

you look at him, “what do you mean?”

“the book”, he shrugs casually, but you know him too well, “what happens now?”

you narrow your eyes suspiciously, “you mean the story?”

“mmhm”

but there’s something in his voice, something much softer, almost delicate. you stare at him for another second before realisation settles inside your chest and you smile faintly to yourself because you know what he’s really asking.

it’s not about the book, it’s about you and him, about your future. the book had always been inspired by both of you, the characters and their heartbreak and then their second chance. anyone reading it would never fully know, but seungmin does. he sees himself hidden between the pages every time he reads it and now he’s asking you what comes after the ending.

“what do you think happens?”, you ask him softly.

he smiles a little at that. to anyone else it would sound like you’re discussing fictional characters but neither of you is really talking about fiction anymore.

“i think”, he says slowly, “the sequel should be less traumatic”

you laugh quietly, “yeah, definitely less traumatic”, you smile while looking ahead the river again and continue talking, “i think… that maybe they finally learn how to love each other properly”

seungmin’s face softens instantly beside you, “they already do”

your heart stumbles softly but you continue anyway because suddenly this conversation feels fragile somehow, much more important.

“and i also think that they…”, you say quietly, “they move to a different place, a big house this time”

“mmhm”

“with lots of windows”

“because the girl loves the sunlight”, he says simply but his words hit you gently, deeply, because you do love the sunlight and it’s something that you told him on your first date and he hasn’t forgotten.

you look down for a second because somehow after all this time he can still make you shy.

“and maybe…”, you continue softly, “they stop being scared all the time”

seungmin looks at you then, “they definitely do that”

you smile faintly.

“and maybe they get married eventually”

the words leave your mouth casually, too fast, you don’t even think about them, but your heart starts beating faster and seungmin notices so he tightens his hand around yours softly.

“yeah?”, he asks you carefully.

you try to act normal, “yeah”

“what kind of wedding would they have?”

you look at him suspiciously now because he’s way too invested in this.

“seungmin”

“what? i wanna know all the details of the sequel, i don’t care if they’re spoilers”

you laugh and pretend to think for a moment before you answer him.

“maybe something small”, you say.

“small?”

“yeah”

he thinks for a second and adds, “near the ocean”

your chest warms at that, “near the ocean, yeah”

“with terrible weather”

you laugh, “absolutely terrible weather”

“yeah, like a storm maybe”, he says, laughing too.

“that rings a bell”

he grins proudly and then after a moment he says something else, casually, but it’s not.

“and they would probably have children, right?”

you choke slightly, “children?”

“yeah”

you stare at him now and he’s trying so hard not to smile.

“you’re insane”

“what? i’m just brainstorming here”

“sure”

you both keep walking slowly beside the river while people pass around you and the sky shines bright above you.

“how many?”, he asks you.

“what?”

“kids”

you laugh in disbelief, “minnie”

“oh come on, this is important for the plot”

you shake your head while smiling helplessly, “i don’t know… maybe two?”

he immediately shakes his head, “no”

you blink, “no?”

“three”

you stare at him in shock, “three!?”

“yes”, he says, nodding his head.

“that’s a lot of children”

“it’s literally one more child”

“that’s still a whole person, kim seungmin”

he laughs loudly beside you, “you’d be beautiful pregnant”

your jaw drops immediately, “oh my god?”, he laughs even harder now while you hit his arm repeatedly, “you can’t just say things like that!”

“why not?”

“because… because you just can’t, okay?”

he’s still laughing while pulling you closer against him.

“okay, okay”

“unbelievable”, you say, shaking your head, but you can’t hide the smile on your face.

“but imagine it though”

you look at him and you can see he’s not joking anymore. there’s something softer in his eyes now, like he can actually see everything you’ve been talking about - a home, children running around, you beside him, all of that forever.

“what would their names be?”, you ask him quietly, before you can stop yourself.

his expression changes instantly because now he knows you’re imagining it too and the realisation makes him smile so softly it almost makes you cry just looking at him.

“well”, he says thoughtfully, “we would have two girls and a boy and-

“you already planned it?”

“obviously”

you laugh again, “how many times have you thought about this?”

“i’ve lost track to be honest”, he says smiling softly and looking down shy for a moment before continuing, “for the girls i like bada and soyun”

you blink and you can feel your heart getting warmer and you have to stop yourself from crying.

“that’s actually really pretty, minnie”

he grins shyly at you before continuing, “and for the boy i like yoojin”

somehow it becomes this whole conversation after that, and you go from names to schools to whose personality the kids would inherit to who should be the one reading bed time stories each night. and through all of it, both of you know what this conversation really is. neither of you says it out loud but every glance lingers for too long and every smile feels to knowing because somehow without directly saying it, you’re talking about forever and the beautiful part is that you both want the same version of it.

eventually seungmin looks ahead and suddenly brightens.

“ice cream!”, he says, pointing at something ahead of you.

you follow his gaze and spot the small stall near the path and start laughing.

“seriously? we’re meeting the others to eat in a bit”

“and?”

“and you want ice cream now?”

he looks genuinely confused, “yes”

you shake your head fondly and he just grins when you finally nod.

“okay, fine”

“wait there for me”, he says, pointing towards the safety railing surrounding the han river.

you smile softly at him, “yes, mr. bodyguard”

“see? you’re already respecting my authority”

you laugh while walking towards the railing and seungmin heads towards the ice cream stall still smiling to himself. you rest your arms against the railing and smile to yourself while watching the sunlight dance across the water. this, this right here, is everything you used to dream about when you were younger.

you think about the conversation you just had with seungmin, about the weddings and children and books and sequels and forever disguised as jokes, and you smile again because deep down, you know that no matter what your future looks like, it’s going to be okay because he’ll be there.

you hear your phone buzz in your pocket and you already start laughing before even checking it.

“unbelievable”, you mumble to yourself.

perks of dating a photographer, apparently. you pull your phone out and unlock it, already expecting exactly what it is - a text from seungmin, a photo to be exact. you shake your head fondly while opening the text and seeing the photo. in it, you’re standing by the railing with your back turned towards the camera, your hair moving in the breeze while the sunlight melts into the river in front of you.

your heart melts instantly because somehow he always captures you exactly the way he sees you, like you’re the most precious thing he’s ever loved.

you smile at the photo before your eyes drift lower and then freeze.

at the very bottom of the photo, slightly blurred but still visible enough for you to see it, there’s something in the corner of the frame.

a small open box and inside it, a ring.

your breath catches so suddenly it hurts and your eyes widen as your brain tries to process what you’re seeing.

no.

no way.

your heart starts pounding violently against your ribs and you look up from your phone, and then you turn around so fast your stomach flips and there he is.

seungmin, right in front of you.

on one knee.

the same ring box in his hands.

your breath leaves your lungs completely, “seungmin…”

his eyes are already glassy, red around the edges, emotional in that way he always gets when he’s trying very hard not to cry. everything feels blurred and distant now because all you can see is him, just him there in front of you.

you cover your mouth with both hands as tears flood your eyes, “oh my god, minnie-”

“baby”, he says quickly, already laughing nervously through his own tears, please let me talk before i start crying too much”

you laugh helplessly, the sound breaking apart with your sobs while you nod your head rapidly. he exhales shakily and looks at you like you’re the only thing keeping him breathing, and maybe you are.

“i had this whole speech planned”, he admits, laughing breathlessly, “and now i can’t remember any of it because you’re crying and now i’m crying too”

you shake your head while tears stream down your cheeks and then he smiles at you, that damn smile. the smile that survived everything, the smile that once broke your heart and then spent a lot of time finding its way back to you.

“you know”, he says softly, “when we talked about the sequel just now…”, you laugh through your tears again, “the wedding, the kids… our future”, he says, his voice shaking, “i wasn’t really talking about the book”

your chest caves in completely, “i know”, you say, your voice not much louder than a whisper.

he looks down for a second, collecting himself, before looking back at you again. and there’s so much love in his face that it nearly destroys you, but it’s also enough to pull all of your pieces back together again.

“y/n… you are the love of my life”, he says quietly, and the world stops, “you always have been”

your tears fall harder and he continues talking, smiling at you.

“i knew it even back then”, he says, his voice trembling now, “when we first met and we were younger and stupid and thought love was supposed to be easy”, he laughs weakly, “but even when everything fell apart… even when we lost each other… even when i thought i ruined everything beyond repair… even when i thought i was going to lose you again…”, his eyes shine, “it was still you”

your knees feel weak as a sob leaves your lips.

“i tried so hard to survive without you”, he whispers, “but nothing ever felt fully right without you there”, he wipes at his eyes quickly with the back of his hand before continuing, “and then we found each other again”, your chest aches so painfully it feels beautiful, it almost feels poetic, “we went through hell to get back here, literally national hell”, he says with a shaky laugh.

you laugh loudly through your crying and he smiles at hearing it.

“but i would do all of it again if it meant ending up with you”, the sun catches against the tears on his cheeks as he whispers, “you’re my home, y/n. you’re my safest place. my favourite person. my best friend. my forever”, his voice cracks then, “and i don’t want a single future that doesn’t have you in it”

you cry harder at his words.

“i want all of it with you”, he says, “i want the wedding. i want the house getting too noisy because our kids inherited your personality and my inability to say no to them”

you laugh wetly and he laughs with you.

“i want to eat ice cream with you at midnight. i want to edit my photos while you write your books next to me. i want to wake up next to you when we’re old and we need to get ready to eat with our children and grandchildren too”

his tears fall freely now too.

“i just want you”, he says helplessly, “for the rest of my life”

you’re sobbing now, your hands still covering your mouth while your entire body shakes as you look at him.

“and i know we already found our way back to each other once”, he says softly, “but this time…”, he opens the ring box and the diamond catches the sunlight, “this time i never want to lose you again”, his voice breaks completely, “so, y/n…”, he laughs shakily through his tears, “will you marry me?”

you nod your head before he even finishes speaking.

“yes”, your voice breaks, “yes, yes-”, you laugh and cry at the same time, “of course i will”

his entire face crumbles with emotion, “really?”

“yes!”, you cry, “seungmin, yes”

he stands up so quickly he nearly loses balance and you both laugh through your tears before he grabs your face with both of his hands. your hands clutch at his shirt and you realise both of you are crying uncontrollably now.

“you’re really gonna marry me?”, he whispers like he still can’t believe it.

you nod your head desperately, “in every lifetime”

that breaks him completely and he can’t do anything else but kiss you right then and there.

nothing in your life has ever felt like this kiss. not your first kiss, not your kiss after you found your way back to each other, not the storm, not the heartbreak, nothing.

this kiss holds everything - every day apart, every chance, every “i miss you”, every fear, every apology, every moment you spent finding your way back to each other.

his hand shake against your cheeks while he kisses you like he still can’t believe you said yes, that you’re gonna spend your lives together. and at this moment, all you know is him and his mouth against yours and his tears mixing with yours and the sound of his shaky laugh when you smile against his lips becomes your favourite sound in the world.

“i love you”, he whispers desperately between kisses”

“i love you too”, you whisper in the same way.

and again.

like neither of you will ever get tired of hearing it.

he pulls away just enough to take the ring out of the box with trembling fingers and your breathing stutters when he gently takes your hand. the ring slides onto your finger perfectly and then he looks at it, looks at you, and starts crying all over again.

“oh my god”, he laughs breathlessly, hiding his face in your neck, “you’re really gonna marry me”

you burst into laughter through your tears and throw your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you, and then he lifts his head just enough to catch your lips with his again.

“i’m so happy”, you whisper against his lips, your voice trembling as fresh tears gather in your eyes.

seungmin laughs softly, his own eyes still wet as he presses his forehead against yours.

“i know”, he says, “i can feel your heartbeat from here”

you let out a watery laugh and hold onto him tighter, your fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt like you still need to make sure he’s really there and this is real, that after everything, after all the heartbreak and fear and almost losing each other forever, this is where you ended up.

together and engaged, still hopelessly in love.

“i love you so much”, you say and the words come out broken because there’s simply too much emotion inside you now to say anything properly.

his entire expression softens immediately, a softness reserved only for you.

“i love you more”, he says.

“that’s impossible”

“no”, he says seriously, wiping another tear from your cheek with his thumb, “you don’t understand. i’m obsessed with you”

you burst into laughter through your tears and he smiles at the sound and then his eyes widen.

“we have to go!”

“what?”

“we have to go”, he says again, “they’re waiting for us”

your brain takes a second to catch up and then your eyes widen too, “wait-”

seungmin starts laughing immediately because he already know what you’re about to ask.

“they knew?”

he tries to look innocent, “well…”

“kim seungmin”, he laughs harder while you stare at him in complete betrayal, “you told them!? you told them you were gonna propose?”

“i had to!”

“oh my god”

he grabs your hand again before you can walk away from him and presses another quick kiss to your lips.

“i didn’t tell them when i was gonna do it though”, he defends himself between laughs, “I just told them it was gonna happen eventually”

“ugh, you’re unbelievable”

“but i’m your fiancé now”

you freeze there and so does he, as the word hangs between you.

fiancé. your fiancé.

you both stare at each other for a second before breaking down laughing again because neither of you can emotionally handle that yet.

“oh my god”, you whisper, covering your face, “seungmin, you’re my fiancé”

he looks just as emotional hearing you say it, “yeah”, he says softly and then, quieter, “and you’re my fiancée”

your chest aches so hard it feels like your heart is physically overflowing. you grab his face and kiss him again, long and soft, smiling against his mouth halfway through because neither of you can stop smiling now. when you pull away, he brushes his nose against yours gently.

“i really did have this whole speech planned, by the way”, he says.

you laugh, “i know, minnie”

“no, seriously. i practised in front of the mirror when you weren’t home”

“that’s adorable”

“and it was good too”, he complains softly, “like award winning level”

you laugh harder as he intertwines your fingers again and finally starts walking with you down the river and this time you stay impossibly close to him. your joined hands swing between you while your other hand wraps around his arm, holding onto him like you never want even an inch of distance between you again. seungmin looks down at you and immediately melts a little at how close you’re standing, then he kisses the top of your head softly.

“when did you even decide to do it?”, you ask him after a moment.

he smiles to himself, “honestly?”

“yeah”

“i’ve known for a while now”, he admits, “but today…”, his fingers squeeze yours gently, “when you called me after your meeting, you sounded so happy”, he says softly, “and i just kept thinking about how badly i wanted to spend every version of your future beside you”

your eyes burn instantly again.

“and then we had that conversation about the sequel”, he continues, laughing softly, “and our fake definitely-not-real children”

“excuse you, they’re very real now”

he grins, “right, sorry”

“you literally named all of them”

“i did, yeah”

you laugh again while he just looks ahead, a proud smile on his face. then your expression changes and you gasp loudly.

“wait the ice cream-”

seungmin immediately bursts into laughter.

“you lied to me!?”

“i’m sorry, baby, i had to!”, he says as he doubles over laughing while you hit his arm lightly.

“you were never gonna get ice cream, were you?”

“no”

“oh god…”

“i’m sorry! i had to distract you somehow to ask you to become my future wife”

you cover your face while he laughs harder, “ugh, i hate you so much”

“no, you don’t”

you smile because, well, you obviously don’t, you could never hate him, not in this lifetime, not in any of them. as you continue walking towards the restaurant, seungmin glances sideways at you with a mischievous smile.

“you know”, he says casually, “you’re gonna have people fighting to be your maid of honour”

you start laughing, “oh god, you’re right”

“lily’s gonna get violent”

“she absolutely will”

“and han too”, he says laughing.

you snort loudly, “he can’t be my maid of honour, he’s a boy”

“and you think that will stop him?”

you stare at him, “yeah, you’re right, he would definitely do it”

you both burst into laughter just imagining it.

“lily would actually kill him, it would ruin the wedding”, you say.

“i think it’d improve the wedding actually”, he says.

you laugh so hard you have to stop walking for a second and seungmin watches you with the softest expression imaginable. when your laughter finally calms, he steps closer to you again, very close. his hand moves to your cheek and then the noise of the city feels distant again.

“i love you so much” he says quietly, but it’s as honest and certain like breathing.

your chest tightens at his words, “i love you too, seungmin”

he smiles and then lends down and kisses you again beneath the bright sky while the han river glows beside you and the city moves endlessly around the two of you.

and for the first time in your life, forever no longer feels frightening, because now you know exactly who you’ll spend it with.

a/n: and this, my loves, is how reader and seungmin's love story ends 🥹 we made it!! they're happy, together again and ENGAGED! howeverrrr... this is NOT the end of this series because there's ONE CHAPTER MORE: AN ALTERNATIVE ENDING 🫣 but i will tell you more about this in my next post because i don't want to make this a/n long so see you there vroooom vroooom

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